Looking To Upgrade Drive Train On 66 Coupe.?

Just blew the 289 in my 66 coupe and looking for ideas on whats worked for others out there on upgrading to a 5.0 . also looking to upgrade to a 5 sped as well from the 3 speed auto I have .
any input from those that have done it would be greatly appreciated! Was possibly thinking of trying to find a mid 80's to mid 90's donar car and just transplanting the entire drive train but open to other ideas aswell
thanks and keep it between the lines!

Founding Member

to put a lateer model 5.0 into an early stang is easy. there are a few changes you have to make though, such as;

change the oil pan to the early front sump, that also includes the oil pump pick up tube

change the front cover to the early one as well. you can pull thee parts from your old engine

to swap the T5, take a late model T5 bell housing and use that instead of the early one.

you then need to swap to a cable or hydraulic clutch system, much better than the old linkage system trust me. dazecars.com can help with parts and information for either swap(iirc). after that you need a new output yoke for the trans, and the drive shaft needs to be shortened up about an inch or so.

I disagree on the clutch conversion. The OEM setup works perfectly with the T5. I have driven the T5 with OEM linkage, driven it very hard, and it works flawlessly. Since you already have that system, I just saved you a lotta work and more than a few bucks.

I disagree on the clutch conversion. The OEM setup works perfectly with the T5. I have driven the T5 with OEM linkage, driven it very hard, and it works flawlessly. Since you already have that system, I just saved you a lotta work and more than a few bucks.

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food for thought guess we'll see what happens when i get that far.
thanks again

Founding Member

I disagree on the clutch conversion. The OEM setup works perfectly with the T5. I have driven the T5 with OEM linkage, driven it very hard, and it works flawlessly. Since you already have that system, I just saved you a lotta work and more than a few bucks.

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that is true if he uses the stock early bell housing, but that means using an adapter plate to fit the T5. and yes you can use a pivot conversion kits to change the clutch fork pivot to use the early linkage, but hydraulic and cable clutch linkages work much better than the old mechanical linkage. i have used all three.

Since I've never had the slightest difficulty with the stock linkage (T5 equipped or otherwise), I just don't see the advantage of changing over, especially sine he already has the stack linkage. I'm just not into the work and expense of replacing something that's not broken.

And I've seen cable clutches most of my life, my first experience was with a Corvair, all of which had cable clutches. Nothing wrong with them, either, but I never felt the need to convert it to hydraulic.

Since I've never had the slightest difficulty with the stock linkage (T5 equipped or otherwise), I just don't see the advantage of changing over, especially sine he already has the stack linkage. I'm just not into the work and expense of replacing something that's not broken.

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2+2GT,
Please note in original post:

" looking to upgrade to a 5 sped as well from the 3 speed auto I have ."

By the time he sources all the original style stuff PLUS the bolt on z-bar adapter, he will likely be close to the cost of a cable or hydraulic setup. FWIW, I've never met a cable conversion setup on a Mustang that I like. Most tend to create clearance issues for headers etc. and to me they just "feel" wrong. It is my opinion that hydraulic is the way to go, especially when working with the later model block and a 5-speed.
Just My $.02,
Gene

" looking to upgrade to a 5 sped as well from the 3 speed auto I have ."

By the time he sources all the original style stuff PLUS the bolt on z-bar adapter, he will likely be close to the cost of a cable or hydraulic setup. FWIW, I've never met a cable conversion setup on a Mustang that I like. Most tend to create clearance issues for headers etc. and to me they just "feel" wrong. It is my opinion that hydraulic is the way to go, especially when working with the later model block and a 5-speed.
Just My $.02,
Gene

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He already has the clutch linkage, so his cost for the clutch linkage is zero. Unless you know of a source for free hydraulics…

2+2GT,
I'm not trying give you a hard time and I truly value the vast amount of great advice you've helped me with and share on this forum, but where did the original poster say anywhere that he already has the clutch parts/linkage? In his first post he clearly states:

"also looking to upgrade to a 5 sped as well from the 3 speed auto I have ."

Looking at it now, I guess it can be a little confusing (if someone is simply "skim" reading) as he calls his current setup as a "3 speed" but says auto after it. If I'm missing something, please point it out.
Just trying, as are you, to help the guy,
Gene

i had a 66 and put a 1990 5.0 roller (347) motor in it and did all the front sump/oil pump pickup etc etc. i went from a 3 speed manual to a super street fighter C4 TCI. Look in to staying with a C4 because chances are you have the shifter, trans cooler, lines etc etc and a TCI street fighter is only like 1400 and shifts like jimmy johnson on race day lol. If you want that freeway gearing get an AOD from TCI.